Welcome to the second online issue of CottageLink Magazine. Craig & I would like to thank those of you who have taken the time to extend compliments and best wishes on our new venture. We’re having a lot of fun with it, and we’re looking forward to bringing you more articles of interest to cottage owners and renters in the months to come. If there’s any subject you’d like us to address, drop us a line!
With the Victoria Day weekend fast approaching, millions of Canadians are getting ready to load up their cars and head for cottage country. And if CottageLink's rousing business is a barometer, this is going to be one busy summer in the great outdoors.
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In early April, thousands of these eager cottagers visited the Cottage Life Show in Toronto, where Craig, Kerry & I got the chance to meet several long-standing CottageLink clients and make some new acquaintances. (By the way, that’s Craig & I at our booth in our nifty CottageLink track suits!)
It was heartening to hear our regulars tell us that their summer rental calendars were filling up fast. It was also fun showing "newbies" how the site works, especially when kids dragged their technophobe parents into the booth to give the site a whirl.
Every year, there’s something new at the show, Canada’s largest cottage industry exhibition, and Craig couldn’t help noticing that he and Kerry were no longer alone in the online cottage rentals and sales business.
"After four years with pretty much having the whole field to ourselves, we’ve now got competition," he says. "And I think that’s a great thing - it means others have realized there’s a lot of growth potential and opportunity in this business. Competition also keeps you on your toes - if we’re going to stay number one, we have to work harder and innovate. That’s one of the reasons we’ve introduced CalendarLink and, this spring, CottageLink Magazine, which is already proving to build traffic on our website."
If this is the first time you've checked out CottageLink Magazine, you can still read our debut edition by pressing the Back Issues button on the cover page. In this archive we hope to build a useful database of information for cottagers in the years to come. Don't miss our third issue, the summer edition, in July!
Glenn Garnett/Editor, CottageLink Magazine
Many vacationers have a favourite getaway locale - whether it’s a sleepy isle in the Caribbean or a first-class ski hill in the Rockies. For some, timeshare ownership makes a lot of sense. But not all programs are created equal, and more than a few people who sign on the dotted line, after a high-pressure sales pitch at a manager’s rum-punch party or a seminar in an industrial park, soon feel pangs of buyer’s remorse.
"It's often an emotional decision that people regret later - so use your head, not your heart," advises Maryanna Lewyckyj, consumer reporter for The Toronto Sun. She says once a timeshare contract is signed, a deal is a deal - check out her advice in Story #1
Beginning our series on flora and fauna of interest to cottagers, we thought we’d kick off with our favourite - the rascally raccoon. The omnipresent omnivore can be a menace or a delight - depending on your point of view - but he’s never dull. Story #2
Time was a nice tan elicited compliments and looks of envy. Now it invites endless lectures on the dangers of UV radiation and an ozone layer with more holes than a brick of Swiss cheese. By the middle of the 21st century, the ozone will be back to normal - here’s some advice on how you can save your skin and live to see that day. Story #3
Finally, it is the position of CottageLink that you should give blood as often as you can - as the ads say, it’s in you to give. But we draw the line at unauthorized withdrawals while you’re flipping a burger on the back deck. Man has been swatting and cussing at mosquitoes since the beginning, but there are new developments in the war against biting flies. Take, for instance, the Sinclair family’s elegant suit of armour in Story #4
We’ll be taking a look at the Great Lakes’ strange invaders. Some - like zebra mussels - everybody’s heard of; others, like gobies or rudd, are relatively new. But all are likely here to stay, and environmentalists are scrambling to control their spread…Your binoculars are useful for more than appreciating loons and those pretty girls across the lake - they can be your ticket to a voyage into space…And we’ll visit the Tip of the Bruce, Tobermory, Ont. and enjoy its splendour above and below the waves of Georgian Bay..
